Stand-byes to stand out!

WSH players get picked for national camp but cant attend

In a surprise move, Hockey India on Tuesday named seven players from the ‘rebel’ World Series Hockey as stand-byes for the national probables camp. However, the twist in the tale is that none of these players will be able to join the core group of 48 when the camp kicks off in Patiala on October 15.

HI had allowed players who compete in the WSH -- the league which is run by its rival faction Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) in association with Nimbus -- to participate in the National championship. And on Tuesday, when it made the announcement that seven WSH players had been picked for the national camp, hope soared that the players won’t be affected in the bitter dispute between the two bodies.

However, it was later learnt that the players won’t be able to participate in the camp at all, as they are still serving the one-year international cool-off period imposed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for WSH participants who signed contracts before March 31, 2011.

“We have done our job of picking the best players from the National Championships,” said selector Col Balbir Singh. “Since they (WSH players) are in the stand-byes, they cannot join the camp. On when they can join the camp, you will have to check with (HI secretary-general Narinder) Batra.

“These players have to be cleared by the FIH before they can resume national duties.” During the national championships, Batra said that four WSH players, including stand-out player Gurjinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh, had offered an apology and their case has been studied by the Disciplinary Committee. However, on Tuesday, he said their comeback will take at least a year due to the FIH restrictions.

“People cannot commit mistakes and apologise for it. According to FIH rules there is a cooling period of one year for players under restriction. I have no idea if somebody under restriction is in the stand-by list.”

Meanwhile, the 48 probables will undergo the camp from Monday after which squads for Lanco International Super Series (Perth, Nov 22-25) and 34th Champions Trophy (Melbourne, Dec 1-9) will be picked.

List of probables: Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri, PR Sreejesh, PT Rao, Tarun Thimmanna, Srenivas Rao. Full-backs: VR Raghunath, Ignace Tirkey, Sandeep Singh, Rupinderpal Singh, Harbir Singh, Lovedeep Singh. Half-backs: Sardar Singh, Kothajit Singh, Birendra Lakra, Manpreet Singh, MB Aiyappa, Bipin Karketta, Pradeep Mor, Gurmail Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sampath Kumar Maylaram, Shirish Bisen, Barkat Singh, Vivek Dhar, Jonny Jasrotia.

Forwards: SV Sunil, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Sarvanjit Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Shivendra Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Tushar Khandkar, SK Uthappa, Pradhanna Sommanna, Nithin Thimmaiah, Yuvraj Walmiki, Dharamvir Singh, Akashdeep Singh, MG Poonacha, Prabhdeep Singh, PL Thimmanna, Sukhdev Singh, Lovepreet Singh, Sanjay Bir Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Sanwan Ali, Vikramjit Singh, Karamjit Singh.
Stand-byes: Goalkeepers: Kamaldeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh. Defenders: Gurjinder Singh, Harpreet Singh. Midfielders: Manjit Kullu, Ravi Pal, Vikas Sharma, Vikas Pillai, Devinder Valmiki.